Wednesday, February 11, 2009

As I said I have been reading in Exodus. Yesterday I read the chapters following Moses' descent from Mount Sinai. God was telling him what to do next after the golden calf incident (foolish, untrusting Israelites). I came across a verse that interested me. God was telling Moses to go up and inhabit the land that was promised to them. And then the verse God said, Exodus 33:1-2 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:" I never realized this part of the exodus story. God had told them that He would send His angel before them into the land and drive out the enemy. Ok if that is true (and of course it is God said it) than why the conflicting reports of the spies. HELLO! they all should have come back like Joshua and Caleb. Yes there are giants but our God is bigger than they are!!!!! Anyway it was a lesson to me about the consequences of not trustin Our Lord when He has told us we could trust Him.

In other news, I finished translating the book 'Stay in the Castle' by Jerry Ross. This is such an excellent book on personal purity. It is told in a 'fairy tale' way but has soo much truth in it. It was required reading at college and I think it will help young people here to realize the importance of abstainance before marriage and waiting for the one the Lord has for you instead of going your own way.

This seems to be a catch up blog post. I have completed about 3/4 of Nina's sweater and it is turning out very cool. I had to change the cuffs of it because they were not turning out right, but they look good now. I will post some pictures when I am finished.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

I have challenged myself this year to read through the Bible. So I have been reading in Exodus and the building of the Tabernacle, and it struck me how detailed God really is. He gave the Israelites specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. If you read it you can see the incredible detail that He gives. It hit me that God cares about not just the big things but the tiny things as well. I knew this of course but it struck me in a diferent way this time. God wants us to be like Him so I must be detail oriented but also keep the big picture in mind when I look at the details. Kind of like a combination of Mary and Martha. Yes, be concerned with the little day to day details of our Christian lives but set those aside if it will interfer with what is truly important, our relationship with Jesus Christ. This tells me it is ok to be detail oriented but don't focas so much on the details that you forget the big things too. They all have their importance. Reading about the Tabernacle, I also see that big things are made up of small details. The Tabernacle as a whole was the place to worship God, but God gave the children of Israel the specifics. The interesting part is that all the details had to be right or the priest could not come before God. I am going to have to think some more on this subject and see what other wonders God has in this book. Isn't God GREAT!!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Do you know how dangerous home improvement shows are? NO!! Well I'll tell you how dangerous they are. They give you IDEAS!!!!!So this is what you do at 12 midnight when you have an IDEA. You move furniture. So now my piano and a comfy chair are in my craft room and I put up the knitting machine for a little while. I now have my laptop on the craft table so I can spread out to translate without my dining room table having books all over it. (It was starting to bug me.) I also switched my dining room and my living room (two ends of a big room) so that the living room is next to the fireplace. Now I have a BIG empty wall that needs filling and NO IDEAS. So back to the home improvement show. Oh well it is a viscious cycle!! If you can save me from this terrible cycle with some IDEAS, PLEASE help.

Singing My Praises?

I am a missionary and a missionary kid currently serving in the field of Portugal. My parents were missionaries to Portugal for 17 years, but are now serving in the field of Mozambique. I am a musician and a crafter. I love to sing, play and write songs, knit and sometimes you might even catch me with a crochet hook. I am almost never caught with a cross stitch project. I work with children, teens, music and translation.